My Lords, I am grateful to my noble and learned friend for introducing his amendment and for all the contributions to the debate. One or two noble Lords referred to this issue as being complex. I disagree with them. What is before us is
very simple. There is one institution of marriage, it is one of the most important institutions that we have, and we want gay and lesbian couples to be a part of it in exactly the same way as any other couples who wish to be married. These amendments create two separate, potentially legal institutions and, therefore, undermine the fundamental purpose of the Bill, as other noble Lords, including the noble Lords, Lord Pannick, Lord Alli, Lord Deben and Lord Richard, have said.
Every time that we have introduced a change in support of gay rights, it has been hard-fought for and not always been easy to progress. None the less, it has made it easier to take the next step. Each step makes it easier for gay men and women to live their lives in the same way as straight men and women. I noted what the noble Baroness, Lady Howarth, said about gay men and women wanting to live ordinary lives. The more that we allow them to do so, and to see them doing so, the more it leads us to believe that we should remove from them any barriers to being able to do just that.
The creation of civil partnerships was a massive step forward. Through them, we gave gay couples equal rights. I was not in Parliament at the time, but I guessed that Parliament decided that the difference between us justified keeping gay men and women out of the institution of marriage. However, over the past eight or nine years, as we witnessed civil partnerships taking place and have become familiar with couples in civil partnerships, we as a society have realised that the exclusion of gay men and women from marriage is not justified.
My noble friend Lord Cormack said that he wanted us to reach a compromise and that the amendment represented that. I say to him and to all noble Lords who support him and these amendments that the time for compromise is over. We now understand that serious relationships between gay men and between gay women are no different from serious relationships between straight men and women. I have said many times during the passage of the Bill that gay couples want to settle down for exactly the same reasons as all other couples do. They are two people who love each other, want to commit to each other, want to provide security and stability for each other, and want to be a team, a partnership and to support each other. Like straight people, that is what leads gay people to want to marry. There is no difference there between us.
My noble and learned friend Lord Mackay pointed to differences and raised the issue of procreation and children to illustrate his argument. The Bill as it stands distinguishes between same-sex couples and opposite-sex couples only as far as is necessary to achieve a practical result. My noble and learned friend talked at length about children. In response, I should make just a few points. The first, which is really important, is that if we enact the Bill, the children of same-sex couples will be able to enjoy the same status as other children. That is a fantastic thing to be able to achieve. It will mean that children at school will not be treated differently, as their parents will be married in the same way as other parents may be.
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My second point is that the Bill does nothing to change the parental status and responsibility for children born to a woman married to a woman or a child adopted by two men. I set out this in great detail in a letter to the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Guildford after the debate on parental responsibility in Committee. The paragraph in Schedule 4 to the Bill which refers to parental responsibility does only one thing—it makes clear a statement of biological fact. A child born to a woman married to a woman is not biologically linked to both spouses. However, it is important to stress that, through this Bill, everything that already exists in law about parental responsibility for children—whether they are children born through IVF or adopted—or any other measure that safeguards their future, which is important, will not change; we are not changing anything in that regard.
The noble Earl, Lord Listowel, referred to the importance of both parents of a child being able to provide support to that child and the child succeeding. He questioned whether there was any evidence about how a child thrives in the family of a same-sex couple. I should say to the noble Earl and to all noble Lords that there is clear evidence that the children of same-sex couples do very well indeed. Research shows that they do better than children of opposite-sex couples. So there is evidence there. There is no evidence to suggest that a child who is part of a family where the parents are a same-sex couple should give any cause for concern.
My noble friend Lord Waddington said that we have rejected the view that marriage can only be between a man and a woman and that it was only right, therefore, that we consider these amendments because we were not taking that belief into account. I disagree with that. As I said at Second Reading, this Bill is as much about protecting religious freedom and the belief that people should be absolutely free to hold and express the view that marriage should be between a man and a woman. However, for all the reasons expressed by many noble Lords during today’s debate, we are not going to legislate in a way that creates two separate types of marriage.
The key point I want to make is that gay men and women want to marry because they support the institution of marriage and want the stability and security it offers. They do not want to change it. They want society to recognise their commitment to each other in exactly the same way as it does for every other couple.
The Government want to make that happen. As I said at the beginning, there is one institution of marriage and we are opening the door to it. We do not want to open a separate door marked “same-sex couples”. There will be only one door and all couples will be invited to walk through it.